Audit: Errors found in school progress reports

LANSING, Mich. (AP) _ A new audit says Michigan's annual school progress reports from 2004-05 and 2005-06 contained some errors that might have artificially improved some schools' results.

The Office of the Auditor General report released Wednesday dealt with the Michigan Department of Education's school report cards and adequate yearly progress reports based on federal No Child Left Behind rules.

The problem stemmed in part from inaccuracies and inconsistencies in computer programming logic used to calculate the scores. But there were other problems cited in the audit, including insufficient monitoring of data supplied by school districts -- some of which may contain inflated favorable self-reporting and missing information.

The state compiles annual progress reports for more than 3,500 K-12 schools.

The audit said inaccurate components of adequate yearly progress status or school report cards were reported for at least 620 schools over the two-year period. That may have resulted in the department incorrectly reporting some of those schools made adequate yearly academic progress.

The education department says it corrected problems the audit discovered while it continued. That should make reporting for the past few school years and future years more accurate.

"The complexity of the system is evident through these findings," Michigan Department of Education spokesman Martin Ackley said in a statement. "We have resolved the problems and are moving forward."

It's not clear how much impact the faulty reporting may have had. A list of the affected schools was not included in the audit.

Schools that don't meet test participation or proficiency levels can average their results over a few years and still make adequate yearly progress under No Child Left Behind's provisions.

While it is possible the faulty reporting also led to some schools being incorrectly classified as not making adequate yearly progress, that appears less likely, based on the report.

However, the audit did find instances where schools received both higher and lower grades than they should have in some components of the state's annual school report cards.

Those reports assign grades to schools in a variety of areas. The grades are then made available to the schools and the public.
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